Amy Samuelson
"Global Environmentalism and the Black Sea: Sustainable Development in
Postsocialist Romania"
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Abstract
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This project examines the coproduction of politics and ecological science in the context of sustainable development projects addressing Black Sea coastal erosion and pollution in Constanta, Romania. Such projects are funded by foreign organizations and designed and implemented by foreign engineers and local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). They utilize Western ecological science, which is influenced by and in turn used to justify a sustainable development approach. Such an approach often relies on essentialist assumptions about the targeted society and environmentalist narratives which are not locally appropriate, thus leading to ineffective solutions. By acknowledging the influence of politics on ecological knowledge production and incorporating more nuanced understandings of Romanian society and the local environment, ecological science can be used to address environmental projects in a more socially just and effective manner. I will perform ethnographic research with two Romanian environmental NGOs, focusing on ecologists as they conduct research, design solutions, apply for funding, and implement projects to address erosion and pollution. I will ask how ecological knowledge emerges through interaction between local and foreign scientists, paying close attention to the assumptions made during this process and how they affect project outcomes. While anthropologists have questioned dominant narratives about the postsocialist “transition,” only recently have they focused on environmental issues. The use of science studies is also relatively new in environmental studies, especially in Eastern Europe. This project thus expands our understanding of the influence of environmentalist narratives and narratives about Eastern Europe on ecological science and sustainable development projects in the region.
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